


Trine

by poisontaster



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-01
Updated: 2005-06-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 18:12:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2238570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisontaster/pseuds/poisontaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's just what happens when you got two folk sharing the same woman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trine

_"...ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng_ , I _told_ you not to be so hard on her!"

"Hard on her? _Hard_ on her? I would have set her down like a newborn baby if you'd done like I asked you and fixed the _go tsao de_ aniline matrices!"

"Those matrices were just fine! Or they _were_ before you decided to redline the tumblers all the way to Persephone and back!"

" _Ren-tse duh fo-tzu_ , what in heaven is going on?" Mal looked over his shoulder at the sound of Inara's voice, though her perfume-which most like cost more than he'd paid for Serenity-had announced the Companion's presence long before. "I could hear them practically in my shuttle."

"Mayhap you noticed we had a bit of a bump, setting down?" He removed the wad of cloth he had pressed to his hairline and grimaced at the bloodstains.

Shock widened Inara's expressive eyes and she came closer to his side in a swish of crimson skirts. Her hand came up, as if to touch the gash, but at the last moment, she stopped, folding both hands in front of her obi of forest green. "You should have Simon look at that."

"Ain't bad, just bloody." Mal shrugged her off. "Won't be the last time I lose my head over Serenity, I reckon." He ghosted an ironic smile. "'Sides, good doctor's got his hands full. Jayne's nose is broke, Zoë cut her hand up on a shard of mirror, and the Shepherd-"

"I am the gorram pilot!" Wash shouted, drowning out all other conversation.

"A puffed up piece of _go se_ 's more like it..." Kaylee retorted, jaw thrust out and her normally cheerful eyes spitting sparks.

"Without me, there's no flying."

"Without _me_ , ain't no ship to fly!"

"And this?" Inara's graceful wave drew Mal's attention back from the squabble in the galley. "You seem terribly calm for a captain whose pilot and mechanic are about to tear each other to bits."

"Wash and Kaylee? Eh. They ain't gonna hurt nothing."

"You think not?" The Companion eyed them-normally the most affable and even tempered of the mismatched crew. "It's not like them," she said finally. "I've never heard either one of them sound so... angry before."

"They ain't angry," Mal answered. They both ducked as Kaylee flung a mug. It shattered in a rain of mud colored ceramic and cold caffeine over their heads. "Well, not _so_ much," he amended.

"Well, shouldn't you break it up? They're only getting worse." Inara's nose wrinkled. "And louder."

"They'll be all tuckered out soon enough. These little dust-ups are good for them."

"Good for them?" Inara looked horrified. As well she might; Inara was a good deal more civilized than the rest of the crew. It was hard for civilized folk to understand the benefits of a good knock-down, drag-out. As a rule, they'd much rather hate each other politely. "How can you say that.?"

"It's just what happens when you got two folk sharing the same woman," Mal brushed the bulkhead with his fingers before turning away. Wash and Kaylee had gone to tussling, the sturdy mechanic riding the pilot's back like a monkey, the pilot reaching with clever fingers to tickle. "Bound to happen."  



End file.
